Cloud Architect

Are you looking for more than just a job and do you want to make a difference? If so, then join the National Student Clearinghouse talent community and discover your impact today!

We are a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization and the leading provider of educational reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services. Serving the education, workforce and learner communities has been at the heart of our mission for over 30 years. Our work - performed in a trusted, secure, and private environment - provides numerous time- and cost-saving benefits to students, schools, administrators, and requestors. Education leaders rely on the Clearinghouse's unique national student data resources to better understand student pathways and outcomes in order to help students succeed, and our research better informs practitioners and policymakers about student educational pathways and enables informed decision making.

This role will serve as a strategic IT advisor, guiding the planning and vision-setting for cloud adoption and modernization of the enterprise IT infrastructure. This includes the design, development, and deployment of cloud solutions. The position involves participating in strategic discussions and guiding the engineering team to create solutions for improving IT and integrating key infrastructure components across the enterprise. This individual will collaborate and partner with enterprise leaders and vendors to strategize, design, implement, and high-level architectures that support IT modernization efforts.

This individual will lead projects to ensure the successful migration of services to the cloud. They will contribute to cost optimization by identifying ways to reduce expenses without compromising quality, including supporting vendor contract negotiations and selecting cost-effective technologies. Additionally, they will conduct investment analysis to assess the financial viability of new cloud investments, analyzing return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO) to guide strategic decisions. This role involves developing a comprehensive cloud strategy aligned with company goals, creating a cloud adoption roadmap, and enforcing governance policies for cloud architecture. They will be responsible for designing cloud architecture solutions that meet various requirements, creating detailed architecture blueprints and documentation, and selecting suitable cloud platforms and services based on business needs.

Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must either reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office or be willing to travel to our office in Herndon, when required.

Currently, this is a remote-first position, and the regional travel requirements are up to 50% or more of the time. Therefore, candidates must either reside within the noted region and in one of the specific states as listed under the What you Bring to the Table section.

• Demonstrate NSC's competencies, which align with our corporate values. Demonstrate NSC's competencies, which align with our corporate values.
  
  
  
  • Core Competencies include: Customer Focus, Optimizes Work Processes, Collaborates, Communicates Effectively, and Be Open and Authentic.
  
  
  
  

Customer Focus

• Analyze and research current and future solutions, and assess customer and/or system issues, interact directly with customers and NSC teams when necessary and identify and implement overall best solution while exercising sound judgment.
• Identify and implement solutions and processes that support the organization's migration from on-premise services to hybrid, multi-cloud-based services.
• Provide technical and architectural leadership, support cloud strategy development, offer troubleshooting leadership during outages, and oversee the creation of essential engineering support documentation
• Assist colleagues in managing uncertainty and make decisions even when all information is not available.
• Navigate teams through the complexities of diagnosing and resolving system outages, exploring alternative approaches to problem solving while maintaining a focus on immediate and long-term solutions.
• Guide IT staff and business units in the development of cloud strategy.

Optimizes Work Processes

• Lead efforts with the engineering group to optimize the most efficient and resilient infrastructure. Assist other NSC teams in quickly identifying, troubleshooting and resolving system outages and communicate status throughout the process.
• Research, investigate, and conduct feasibility studies. Through a collaborative approach, recommend and implement new or improved infrastructure IT processes.
• Incorporate advanced technologies while enhancing creativity for cost-effective solutions.
• Optimize performance by prioritizing tasks at hand.
• Develop, test, implement, monitor and report on overall system and production solutions, then transfer system management responsibilities to Infrastructure Operation.
• Ensure engineering processes and procedures are thoroughly documented and maintained.

Collaborates

• Collaborate with stakeholders and cross-functional teams (Engineering, Development, Operation, Finance, Data) to understand requirements, architect solutions, and ensure successful delivery of cloud projects.
• Gain consensus on production cutover readiness items including migration, integration requirements, financial sustainability, and supplier qualification and diversity.
• Adopt a problem-solving mindset when engaging with teams to gather feedback, ensuring systems and services are implemented and updated as expected.
• Remain open to diverse ideas and perspectives, sharing information and involving others in decision-making whenever possible.
• Identify opportunities to eliminate silos.

Position may be required to perform other duties as required. These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodation will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

• Bachelor's degree in IT, Computer Science or Business Administration. An equivalent combination of education and experience, including through military service will also be considered.
• 10+ years of experience in IT Strategy and Technology Service Management.
• 5+ years defining infrastructure architecture including current state, future state, and enterprise technology roadmaps.
• Proficient in some of the following:
  
  
  
  • Cloud platform expertise, infrastructure design and implementation, automation with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), networking, security, DevSecOps, multi-cloud environments, disaster recovery and high availability, and performance.
  • Experience in advanced infrastructure resiliency, developing cloud strategies, and driving digital transformation towards the cloud.
  
  
  
  
• Technical Skills:
  
  
  
  • Extensive experience with AWS, Azure, and/or OCI.
  • Strong understanding of cloud architecture, design, and implementation.
  • Experience with CI/CD tools and automation infrastructure.
  • Knowledge of cost optimization strategies in cloud environments.
  
  
  
  
• Flexibility to work and provide support in a 24X7 environment.
• Must live within a commutable distance to Herndon, VA or in one of the Clearinghouse's approved States for hiring purposes. Refer to our HR Policies Page, located on our Careers site at https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/careers/human-resource-policies/, for more details.
• Must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. We do not intend to sponsor external applicants for work visas, and may consider sponsorship only if no qualified candidates can be found who are authorized to work without sponsorship.
• Must be at least 18 years old.

Additional Desired Requirements:

• Master's degree in computer science.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect.
• ITIL Certification.
• Experience with agile development methodologies

• Use of a computer for 8 or more hours a day.
• Use of telephone.
• Occasionally required to use hands and fingers to operate, handle, and reach.
• Vision abilities include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.
• Must be able to communicate, learn, read, and concentrate.
• Must have oral communication and hearing.
• Must be flexible to work after business hours and on weekends when necessary.
• May be required to provide on-call remote and/or 24/7 technical support.

The National Student Clearinghouse provides a robust benefit program designed to help meet the needs of each employee and their family, both now and in the future. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as life and disability insurance benefits, for employees and their qualified dependents. Health care, dependent care, and limited purpose flexible spending accounts, as well as a health savings account, are options available for employees to set aside pre-taxed dollars for certain qualifying expenses. We offer a very generous 401k matching contribution program with the opportunity to defer pre-tax and Roth contributions, as well as catch-up contributions for those who are eligible! We are proud to offer a competitive paid leave program consisting of vacation, sick, and personal time, as well as paid holidays, up to 3 weeks of paid parental leave during a 12-month period, and up to 5 days of paid military leave per calendar year. Vacation time will accrue based on length of service, and new full-time hires can accrue up to 13 days of vacation and up to 10 days of sick time per year. On an annual basis, new employees may use up to 32 hours of accrued sick time as personal time. Additionally, the Clearinghouse observes at least 11 paid holidays per year.

Another perk is that employees have the option to get reimbursed for basic wholesale company and roadside assistance memberships (e.g., Costco and AAA) and to request a buy back on portions of unused accrued vacation based on tenure and certain other qualifications. Employees can further their education and professional development by using our Employee Education Assistance Program, which establishes reimbursement for qualified education expenses upon successful completion of the program, and leveraging the enterprise-wide LinkedIn Learning subscription. There are additional employee benefits too, including but not limited to, mental health and well-being benefits. To find out more, please request a copy of our Benefits at a Glance!

Additionally, we reasonably believe that the salary range for this position is between $175,000 and $193,000.

The pay range listed above represents a general guideline and is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, and the National Student Clearinghouse considers a number of factors when determining base pay for offers, which include but are not limited to, responsibilities and scope of the job and the candidate's experience, education, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Internal Candidates: If you feel that you qualify and meet the requirements of the job, we highly encourage you to apply and focus on preparing for the application process. Once the final candidates are selected, they can anticipate a review of the compensation prior to any offer made.

This job announcement was posted to the National Student Clearinghouse's Careers site at www.studentclearinghouse.org/careers on 5/23/2025and the online application period will be open for at least 3 days. A completed online application is required to be considered for this opportunity.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities: The National Student Clearinghouse is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status (or known to have a spousal, family, business, social or other relationship or association with a protected veteran), sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, natural hairstyle, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our management team is dedicated to this policy with respect to recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, benefits, employee activities and general treatment during employment.

Pay Transparency Notice: The National Student Clearinghouse is a federal contractor that abides by all applicable equal opportunity laws and regulations. Under these laws, companies doing business with the federal government must provide applicants and employees with certain policies, including the following information. The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)